Admissions

Criteria for Admitting Students to Year 7 for September 2019

Maidstone Grammar School for Girls complies with the Co-ordinated Admissions Scheme run by the Kent Local Authority.

Applications for Admission

Students admitted at the start of Year 7 will be those who have been judged suitable for grammar school education under the Kent selection procedure. Applications should be made via the Local Authority (LA). All applications will be considered by Kent Admissions and ranked in order of priority in the event of the school being oversubscribed using the criteria below.

The Kent Tests (11+)

The Kent Tests taken in September are a multiple choice English and Maths paper and a multiple choice reasoning paper containing a verbal reasoning section and a non-verbal reasoning section. Reasoning tests look at how quickly and efficiently students solve problems of increasing difficulty. These include questions using words or numbers and patterns and sequences. The tests are marked and the scores standardised. Standardisation means that each student’s score can be compared with those achieved by other students of the same age. An allowance is made so that the youngest students are not disadvantaged. Students also complete a piece of writing under test conditions.

Maidstone Grammar School for Girls is a selective Grammar school. The school will admit girls into years 7 – 11 and girls and boys into years 12 and 13.

Year 7 Admissions: September 2019
Maidstone Grammar School for Girls complies with the Co-ordinated Admission Scheme, which is administered by Kent Local Authority. Detailed information about the school is available in the prospectus and Essential Information Booklets.

Girls are normally admitted at age 11. All students must have gained a selective place through the Kent PESE (Procedure for Entry into Secondary Education). Details of the Kent PESE are available from the Kent County Council booklet ‘Admission to Secondary School in Kent 2019’. There is no guarantee of a place to applicants who meet the over-subscription criteria.

The Published Admissions Number is 180.

Before the application of oversubscription criteria, children with a statement of special educational need or Education, Health and Care Plan, which names the school, will be admitted. As a result of this the Published Admission Number will be reduced accordingly. When the school is oversubscribed, the following oversubscription criteria will be used in the order shown:

Eligible girls who are looked after and previously looked after children: A child under the age of 18 years for whom the local authority provides accommodation by agreement with their parents/carers (Section 22 of the Children Act 1989) or who ceased to be so because they became subject to an adoption, residence or special guardianship order under Part IV of the Act.

Students in receipt of Pupil Premium: A student is eligible for Pupil Premium where they have been registered for free school meals (FSM) at any point in the last 6 years. This does not include students who have only been eligible to receive Universal Infant Free School Meals. Parents wishing to apply under this criterion must ensure they complete the Supplementary Information Form and return it to the school by 31st October in the year of application. Parents must also complete an application (via online or paper Secondary Common Application Form) naming the school, otherwise, their child cannot be considered for a place.

Governor places: The top 30 students in rank order of the TOTAL aggregate score in the Kent 11+ assessment tests.

Current family association: This is defined as a sister or brother attending either Maidstone Grammar School for Girls or Maidstone Grammar School when the child starts. In this context brother or sister means children who live a brother or sister in the same house, including natural brothers or sisters, adopted siblings, stepbrothers or sisters and foster brothers and sisters.

Distance from home to school: Determined by straight line using Ordnance Survey address point data, with those eligible girls living nearest being accorded highest priority. The school uses measurements provided by the local authority and further information on how distances are calculated is available in the ‘Admission to Secondary School in Kent’ booklet provided by the local authority.

If you have not been successful in gaining a place for your daughter at Maidstone Grammar School for Girls, or more fondly known as ‘MGGS’, for September into Year 7, we understand your disappointment and now hope to assist you in the appeals procedure.

If your child is due to start secondary school in September 2019 and you named MGGS on your SCAF you can appeal between 1st March 2019 and 29th March 2019 to guarantee that your appeal will be heard in our main round of appeals. For applications made in the normal admission round, appeals must be heard within 40 school days of the deadline for lodging appeals. For late applications, appeals should be heard within 40 school days from the deadline for lodging appeals where possible, or within 30 school days of the appeals being lodged.

We recommend that you send your appeal form as soon as possible, along with the majority of your documents. If you then wish to send further documents please send these directly to KCC Secondary Appeals Team at least 5 days prior to any appeal date.

KCC have advised that if you intend lodging an appeal, you should still send the acceptance form back to the school that you were offered. If your appeal is upheld and you are offered a place at MGGS for your daughter, you will then need to withdraw your acceptance from the initial school accepted. However, if your appeal if not upheld your daughter will still have a place at a school in September.

The hearing lets you explain to an independent appeal panel why you think your daughter should be given a place at this school and lets MGGS explain why it could not offer your daughter a place. Appeal hearings usually take 30 minutes and are held Mondays to Fridays between 9am and 4:30pm.

KCC Appeals will send you the details and a copy of the school’s case at least 10 school days before the hearing. If you want to send us any additional evidence you must make sure that KCC Appeals get it at least 5 school days before the hearing date.

Decision

KCC will write to tell you the panel’s decision as soon as possible after the hearing. KCC cannot tell you the decision by telephone.

If you would like to discuss In Year Admissions please contact Ms Starns, Admissions Manager via mstarns@mggs.org.

Criteria for Admitting Students from Year 8 – 11 and Students into Year 7 After the Start of the Academic Year

Students admitted at the start of Year 7 each academic year will be those who have been judged suitable for Grammar School education under the Kent selection procedure. Year 7 students applying for a place into Year 7 between September and December will take the Kent Test. From January, Year 7, students will take the school’s own In Year admissions test.

Students who wish to join the school into Years 8 – 11 and those students wishing to join Year 7 not having previously taken the Kent test at Primary school should apply for a place at the school using the In-Year Casual Admission Form (IYCAF).

If you live in Kent or are about to move into Kent and would like a place for your daughter at our school, you must complete an In-Year Casual Admission Formand return this to the Admissions Manager, Michelle Starns at the school address below or fax it to 01622 681947 or email it as an attachment to mstarns@mggs.org.

The In-Year Tests

Students can test once each year for a place at the school. If a student is unsuccessful following testing for a place into Year 7, then that student has the opportunity to test the following year for a place into Year 8. This applies to all year groups up to Year 11.

The In Year tests consist of verbal and non-verbal reasoning papers in a multiple-choice format. Reasoning tests look at how quickly and efficiently students solve problems of increasing difficulty. These include questions using words or numbers and patterns and sequences. The tests are marked and the scores standardised. Standardisation means that each student’s score can be compared with those achieved by other students of the same age. An allowance is made so that the youngest students are not disadvantaged. Students also complete a Maths test and are required to write a short English essay. For those students testing for a place into Years 10 and 11, additional Biology, Chemistry and Physics papers will be taken. These test papers are marked in school. The testing takes approximately three and a half hours and is completed during the morning. (Testing for Years 10 and 11 takes 5 hours). You will be informed in writing of the results of the test and given further information on what to do next.

If a place is available in the required Year group and the student is successful following testing, a place in the school will be offered. The relevant Head of Study will then make contact to arrange a start date. If however, a student is unsuccessful following testing then parents and carers have the right to appeal against the decision not to admit. This is completed via the Kent County Council independent appeals procedure.

In-Year Appeals

Appeals resulting from In Year Admission applications will be heard within 30 school days of the appeal being lodged with Michelle Starns, Admissions Manager. Information on how to proceed with an appeal will be given at the time of writing to inform parents and carers of an unsuccessful test result.

If the school is oversubscribed parents and carers of students who are deemed selective following testing can request that their daughter’s name is placed on the waiting list. Unfortunately we are unable to give students who do not pass the In Year test a place on the waiting list.

Further information about admission to the school and other useful information can be found below.